.TH xpipeman "" "" "X Application"
.PC "Connect the pipes to stop the leaks"
.B xpipeman
.PP
.B xpipeman
is a game of skill that requires the user to connect
pieces of a pipe to allow a liquid to flow through without
leaking out.
.PP
At the start of the game, the screen appears as follows:
.PH 1 1 \*(XD/xpipeman.eps
The liquid flows out of the block marked with an `S'.
The aim of the game is to connect as many pieces of pipe to the
start block as possible. 
.PP
The game generates
a random sequence of blocks and displayed them down the right
side of the screen.
The next pipe block that has to be placed is under
the arrow marked
.BR NEXT .
After a block has been placed,
.B xpipeman
displays a new block
at the end of the sequence and the next block appears under the arrow.
You must think ahead and place the sections of pipe in such a way that
they will create a seamless flow.
.PP
After a period of time the liquid starts to flow.
It first fills up the
.B "flow start"
meter at the right of the screen.
When this is full, the liquid then
begins to flow out of the start block and into any pipe blocks
connected to it.
To finish a level successfully, you must connect a certain number of blocks
to the to the start block.
This is indicated by the
.B Remaining
count shown at the bottom of the screen.
.B xpipeman
decrements this count as the liquid flows through the blocks.
If you connect more blocks than the number shown in the
.B Remaining
counter, you receive bonus points.
The number of blocks you must connect increases with each level.
The game ends when you fail to connect the required number of pipe sections,
or there are no more levels.
.PP
To make life more difficult,
there are also object blocks into which you cannot place pipe.
The number of object blocks also increases with each level.
.PP
At higher levels, some pieces of pipe let the liquid flow in only
one direction.
A pipe section of this type has an arrow within it that indicates
the allowed direction of flow.
Successful connection of one of these sections earns extra bonus points.
.SH Scoring
Each pipe connected to the flow scores ten points.
Any pipe placed on top of another piece of empty pipe
incurs a penalty of 20 points.
Any pipe not connected to the flow also incurs a penalty,
but this time of only ten
points.
.PP
A bonus 40 points is awarded each time there is a flow crossover,
and a bonus of ten points is awarded for each one-way pipe used.
The name for the high-score list comes from the environment variable
.BR USER .
.SH Commands
You can move and place pipe
either with the mouse or the keyboard.
For the mouse, clicking the left-mouse button drops the next pipe blocks
into the position to which the mouse cursor points.
Clicking the center-mouse button places a piece of pipe.
You cannot place pipe on the start block, objects, or any
filled or partially filled pipe sections.
Once a block has been placed it may
.I not
be moved.
.PP
The default keyboard setup is as follows:
.IP \fBZ\fR 0.3i
Move one square to the left.
.IP \fBX\fR
Move one square to the right.
.IP \fB\'\fR
Move one square up.
.IP \fB/\fR
Move one square down.
.IP \fB<space>\fR
Place a piece of pipe.
.IP \fB<tab>\fR
Speed up the flow
.PP
If no more blocks can be placed, then pressing
.B <tab>
speeds up the flow.
.SH Resources
.B xpipeman
uses the resource
.BR xpipeman.scorefile ,
sets the path of your personal score file.
.B xpipeman
will create this file if it does not exist.
The default is
.BR ./xpipescores .
.SH "Command-line Options"
.B xpipeman
recognizes the normal Xt command-line options.
In addition, it recognizes the command-line option
.BR \-scorefile ,
with which you can name the file that holds your personal scores.
.SH Files
\fB./xpipescores\fR \(em The score file
.SH "See Also"
.B
X applications
.R
.SH Notes
Type-ahead may be a problem on some slower machines.
To reduce the problem,
try to use the mouse instead of the keyboard.
.PP
.II "Paver, Nigel"
.II "Warkentine, Brian"
.B xpipeman
was written by Nigel Paver (pavern@uk.ac.man.cs, 
pavern%uk.ac.man.cs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk),
with acknowledgements to Brian Warkentine (brianw@Sun.COM).

